Method and System for Reusable Printed Card

Abstract

The reusable printed card is a physical card such as a greeting card, postcard or business card, with an embedded RFID chip, specifically NFC (Near Field Communication), and a QR (Quick Response) Code, wherein the contents, such as text messages, photos, and audio-visual contents composed or arranged by the sender can be read and then be modified, to reuse it, eventually by the recipient using one's personal NFC-enabled device such as smartphone, or tablet. The computer application residing on the central server identifies the content and card information via the NFC or QR Code that is transmitted via the recipient's personal device through the internet, then simulating the printed card and displaying the actual contents on the personal device upon scanning the card. The history of the contents of each card is kept and are readily available for the sender's and recipients' memory-sake and for social media purposes under the sender's and recipient's account stored on the central server, and/or in their personal devices' local storage in the case of business card information for instance.

Claims

1. The system and method of the reusable printed card comprises of a tangible printed card with embedded NFC device and/or QR code and Card ID, and a Central Server with the computer application and database capable of communicating via the internet, and a personal device the writer and the reader of the card should have such as smart phone, tablet, or laptop that is capable of connecting to the application system on the Central Server via the internet.

2. The reusable printed card of claim 1 has a front or forward cover with printed art or writings that communicates certain message such as greetings or information, depending on the purpose such as but no limited to as a greeting card, post card, business card, invitation, newsletter, brochure, and something similar.

3. The reusable printed card of claim 1 wherein it has an embedded Near Field Communication (NFC) device and/or a QR code and/or a Card ID formulated and assigned uniquely to the card, to identify the card by the Central Server application.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the reusable printed card can have other specific message and/or information other than the printed art or writings, which is to be chosen or composed by the sender or the writer of the card, and is viewable as well as revisable to the reader of the card making the card reusable.

5. The system and method of claim 4 wherein the revisable contents composed or selected by the writer of the reusable printed card are stored in Central Server that can be retrieved by the reader upon tapping the printed card or by scanning the QR code in the card or entering the card ID in the application or browser in the reader's personal device that is communicating to the Central Server via a digital network such as the internet.

6. The system and method of claim 5 wherein the Central Server's application is configured to accept related request from the writer's or reader's personal device by passing the Card ID identified via the plurality of NFC device, QR code or manually entered ID embedded or indicated in the printed card.

7. The system and method of claim 6 wherein the application on the Central Server is configured to accept request to display choices to select options, compose, store, search, retrieve, delete, revise, post, publish, attach, download, upload and create history of the contents, digitally, as requested by the sender or writer of the printed card.

8. The system and method of claim 6 wherein the application on the Central Server is configured to accept request to display choices, compose, store, search, retrieve, delete, revise, post, publish, attach, claim, download, upload, and create history of the contents as requested by the reader or the recipient of the printed card.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the sender or writer of the printed card can set attributes of the printed card such as but not limited to privacy setting, design, recipient's view and edit rights, posting and publish rights, date or duration to allow revision and resending of the printed card, revisions limit, geography limits, duplication rights, and the like as manages by the application in the Central Server.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the reader or the recipient of the printed card can set new on some or all of the existing attributes of the printed card such as but not limited to privacy setting, design, recipient's view and edit rights, posting and publish rights, date or duration to allow revision and resending of the printed card, revisions limit, geography limits, duplication rights, and the like as manages by the application in the Central Server.

11. The method of claim 5 wherein the application in the Central Server identifies which content to process by receiving the Card ID sent via the internet using a personal device that accept the input via an NFC device or QR code or the written Card ID embedded or indicated on the printed card.

12. The application system and method of claim 1, wherein the sender or writer can order card from the ordering application system in the Central Server to either be mailed directly to the reader or recipient, or mailed to the sender or writer.

13. The application system and method of claim 12, wherein the sender or writer can compose the content of the card upon checking out the order of the printed card online, or wait for the printed card to arrive to compose the content in the same manner.

14. The application system and method of claim 12, wherein the sender or writer can choose a non-revisable portion design of the printed card by choosing a final design, or a customizable design, or create a new design using the design editor application in the Central Server that allows uploading of the whole design digitally or a portion thereof using a customizable design.

15. The application system and method of claim 12, wherein the sender or the writer can compose the content of the card upon ordering the printed card online and be sent individually or by batch to one or many recipients with the same or different addresses each with the same content or different contents.

16. The supplication system and method of claim 10, wherein the reader or recipient of the printed card can share the content via the social media, save the content in the Central server for memory-keeping, and/or download the content to save locally on the personal device.

17. The application system and method of claim 10, wherein the reader or recipient of the printed card can choose to save the sender's contact information on recipient's contact list application of the personal device if applicable, such as a smart phone, which when saved will include contact information such as but not limited to sender's name, address, phone numbers, photo and website.

18. The system and method of claim 6 wherein the application on the Central Server is configured to accept digital attachment of the content such as but not limited to images, videos, music, gifts, transactions, files, address links, and the like.

19. The application system and method of claim 12, wherein the sender or writer can have his/her own reusable printed card manufactured, wherein he/she will only need to order and affix an NFC chip sticker, or QR code, or Card ID that is generated by the Central Server so that his/her manufactured printed card can be viewed and revised by the reader or recipient of the printed card in the same manner. Whether the manufactured card is suitable to resending it or not is the discretion of the recipient of the card.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] A clear understanding of the key features of the invention summarized above may be referenced to the appended drawings, which illustrate the method and system of the invention. Although it will be understood that such drawings depict preferred embodiments of the invention and, therefore, are not to be considered as limiting its scope with regard to other embodiments which the invention is capable of contemplating. Accordingly:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a front-view of the inside of greeting card illustrating the composition of the method and system of this invention showing the major components of the greeting card to make it reusable for the process.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a top-view of a printed card illustrating the composition of the method and system of this invention showing the major components of the printed card, such as a business card, to make it reusable for the process.

[0014] FIG. 3 is an illustration of the method and system of this invention showing components of the process.

[0015] FIG. 4 is an illustration of the method and system of this invention showing an overview of the series of events that would take place in making the printed card reusable.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a system diagram illustrating the method and system showing how the sending or reading process of the printed card will be initiated trough the actual printed card.

[0017] FIG. 6 is a system diagram illustrating the method and system showing how the sending or reading process will be initiated through the website or application.

[0018] FIG. 7 is a diagram of the method and system of this invention illustrating the series of events that would take place when the writer/composer/sender of the printed material initiated SEND process as shown in FIG. 6.

[0019] FIG. 8 is a diagram of the method and system of this invention illustrating the series of events that would take place when the reader/recipient of the printed material initiated a READ process as shown in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] Referring now to the invention in more detail, shown in FIG. 1 is an illustration of a greeting card 10 which can be of any size, shape and design. The said greeting card comprises of an NFC device 11 embedded in the card wherein it stores the card ID information, a printed unique QR code 12, and/or a printed unique ID 13, wherein each of the said three components will identify the specific greeting card by the Central Server that will be explained later.

[0021] FIG. 2, similar to FIG. 1, is just to illustrate that the same process can be used to any other printed material 20, other than greeting card, while having the same three components described above, which are NFC device 21 wherein it stores the card ID information, a printed unique QR code 22, and/or a printed unique ID 23, wherein each of the said three components will identify the specific printed card by the Central Server (FIG. 3, 33) that will process the reusable prints.

[0022] And so, referring now to FIG. 3, the construction details of the invention is that the specific printed card 31, can be identified by the Central Server 32 which processes the content of the printed card, via the sender's or recipient's personal device 33, that is connected to the internet, such as but not limited to smart phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. The way the printed card is identified by the sender's or reader's personal device is either by tapping the card for those devices that have an NFC reader, or by scanning the QR via the device's built-in camera or installed QR app, or by entering the ID, through the website using the device browser or the installed specific application on the device responsible for communicating to the application on the Central Server.

[0023] Systematically, FIG. 4 relates to an overview of series of events that will take place in the real world 39 to portray a reusable greeting card. As illustrated, the first writer of the printed card 40, for instance, is intending to send it to the first recipient 41, who in turns, is a second writer as he intends to revise the content of the card and send it to second recipient 42. The first writer's action, represented by the arrow 43, shows the direction is towards the Central Server 46. This indicates that the writer is entering information and storing it to the database 47 in the said server. While the first recipient's action is represented by two arrow 44, since the first recipient is reading the content, as well as re-writing the content so that he can send it to the second recipient making the greeting card reusable. The second recipient's action is represented by single arrow 45, as he is just retrieving the information that is revised by the first recipient.

[0024] Referring now to FIG. 5, wherein the overview of the system and method of the present invention as managed by the computer application on the Central Server are shown in flow-diagram 50. This diagram shows the two major processes that is triggered by an action of the user of personal device, herein can be referred to as the client, shown on the previous illustration, which are SEND and READ actions. These actions can be initiated by the client by first identifying the printed card by tapping it for the device that is NFC-capable, scanning the QR Code or entering the Card ID. Similarly, FIG. 6 only shows another way 60 the actions are initiated by the clients, which is by going to the website or the device application, and manually selecting SEND or READ action. Either way, it will initiate a specific action and will require to identify the card to be read or revised, which is previously described, via the NFC, QR code or Card ID.

[0025] The SEND action in FIG. 6 is further elaborated on FIG. 7. The writer/sender of the card 70 is ready to scan the greeting card with his smart phone device. Depending on the smart phone, he can be auto directed to the Central Server via the internet. Note that some smart phone or device is not capable of auto-direction and thus would either manually go to the website of the Central Server via the device browser or install the application to his device. Either way, the system will require the sender to sign-in, if he is not signed-in yet, or sign-up if he has not signed-up yet. Signing up can be done via major social media such as but not limited to Facebook or Google Plus. If the Sender has no physical printed card on hand, he will be directed to the ORDER Process, to order a card based on occasions if he's ordering a greeting card, or based on use if some other types of printed cards such as a business card.

[0026] If the printed card is greeting card, the system will accept Recipient Information and allow to compose the greetings and messages. Otherwise, the system will accept the informational content of the card. Since the invention is the system and method of reusable printed card, options regarding the programs/applications/software to implement the method are variable and can be added or subtracted, be made required or optional, depending on the desired settings the senders or readers set such as but not limited to digital content, front-end setting, privacy settings, and related functions and procedures. The printed card, once saved, can be shipped directly to the recipients or to the sender first.

[0027] Similarly, the READ action in FIG. 6 is further elaborated on FIG. 8. The reader/recipient of the card 80 can read the printed card by the same method, which is either via NFC, QR code or Card ID. Depending on the smart phone, he can be auto directed to the Central Server via the internet. Note that some smart phone or device is not capable of auto-direction and thus would either manually go to the website of the Central Server via the device browser or install the application to his device. Either way, the system will display the card and the messages together with some other optional digital contents such as but no limited to photos, video, music, gifts, and animations. Depending on the privacy set by the sender, some contents will require the reader to sign-in, if he is not signed-in yet, or sign-up if he has not signed-up yet, to view those contents. Signing up can be done via major social media such as but not limited to Facebook or Google Plus. After viewing it, the Reader has the option to revise the content so that the printed card can be reused and be resent to someone else. Original contents are saved on the server or locally for memory-keeping. If the printed card is business card, original information will be saved on the contacts of the recipient.

[0028] Since the invention is the system and method of reusable printed card, options regarding the programs/applications/software to implement the method are variable and can be added or subtracted, be made required or optional, depending on the desired settings the senders or readers set such as but not limited to digital content, front-end setting such as color, privacy settings, and related functions and procedures. The printed card, once saved, can be shipped directly to other recipients or back to the sender with new or revised content.

[0029] Note that in composing a content of the reading material, the writer adds the digital information, writings, diagrams, photos, illustrations, and the like to the Central Server. The content is assigned with a unique ID that is stored on the material such as a greeting card via an NFC, QR code or printed ID to be mailed or handed over to the recipient. Once it is read by the recipient, the writer may or may not be notified, depending on the preferred option. The writer then may activate it for allowing it to be revised and resent. Depending on the option set by the writer or by the system default, it can also auto-allow after certain time or after certain events have been triggered such as but not limited to clicking, viewing of content, claiming the attached gift-card, reader signing up or logging in, just to name a few.

[0030] While the present invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments and applications, in both summarized and detailed forms, it is not intended that these descriptions in any way limit its scope to any such embodiments and applications, and it will be understood that many substitutions, changes and variations in the described embodiments, applications and details of the method and system illustrated herein and of their operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of this invention.

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0031] A system and method for the printed card such as greeting card, postcard, or business card to be reusable to the recipients of the said card so that it can be handed over to another recipient with the new or revised contents comprising of the printed card with embedded RFID (NFC), an application on the Central Server that manages the content, and the personal device that the writer or reader of the printed card use to connect to the Central Server to process desired action on the contents upon identifying the specific printed card via the NFC, QR code or Card ID embedded, printed or attached to the printed card.